Veterans Expeditions Overland route will leave the VIA ALIVE Centre on the 31st of August where the team will first drive into London to the Masonic Grand Lodge as the Masonic Charitable Foundationwere the largest contributor to the project. The Team will then leave London and dive a short distance to Ashford, Kent for an overnight camp before setting off early on the 01st of September.

﻿﻿﻿﻿

The Team will then cross to France by ferry from Dover to Calais and a short distance through Francean on to Iepres, Belgiumwhere the team will visit historical battlefield sites and attend the nightly ‘Last Post’ at the Menin Gate. From there the route through Belgiumwill be through the Ardennesand the area of the Battle of the Bulge during WW2and on to Bastognewhich was depicted in the mini series ‘Band of Brothers‘, which is very apt for this expedition.

The team will then cross the border for a short journey through Luxembourgand on into Germanywhere we will head south towards the Austrianborder where we will follow the Alpine Waythrough Bavariaand on to Berchtesgaden the location of Hitler’s Berghof.

From the Berghofwe will cross the border into Austria and on to Villachclose to the Slovenianborder. We will then cross into Sloveniaand through the Slovenian Alps where and on to cross the border into Croatia. This for the team is where we hope to get off road as much as possible and visit some of the locations British Troops were during the Balkans Warbefore crossing the border into Bosnia Herzegovina.

Once in Bosniathe team will visit many locations from the Balkans War before crossing back into Croatia and visiting Dubrovnik before crossing the border into Montenegrofor more off road driving. We will then cross into Albaniaand head north towards the Albanian Alps where there are many off road routes and on into Greecewhere we will travel through gorges and as far as we can drive up Mount Olympusas we can.

From there we will visit historical sites through Greeceand on to Marathonwhere the first PTSDlike symptoms were recorded and on to Athens.

The return journey will leave Athens and on to Patraswhere we will board a ferry to Brindisi, Italywhere we will drive to the Amalfi Coast and on up to Romethen through the spins of Italyto cross the Alpsinto Switzerland. The route will then take us through the Swiss Alps and on to cross the border into Francewhere we will loosely follow the WW1 frontline and on towards Normandyto visit the WW2 D Day landings before heading for Cherbourgfor our last ferry trip back to the UKand the finish at the VIA ALIVE Centre.

For those taking part this expedition of 7,000 miles passing through 14 different countries will be life changing and will give them direction and skills for the future.